Tennessee's updated bowl projections after the loss at Alabama

The popular bowl projection for Tennessee Football this week, coming off the 37-20 loss at Alabama, is the Music City Bowl. USA Today, Athlon and CBS Sports all have the Vols in the Music City Bowl, while the Gator Bowl, Mayo Bowl and Citrus Bowl are also among the predictions.

USA Today has the Vols against Nebraska in the Music City Bowl, Athlon’s matchup in Minnesota and CBS Sports has Tennessee against Northwestern. Sports Illustrated has the Vols against Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.

ESPN’s two bowl projections are the Vols and Duke in the Mayo Bowl and Tennessee-Virginia in the Gator Bowl.

Tennessee (5-2, 2-2 SEC) goes to Kentucky (2-4, 0-4) on Saturday night for a 7:45 Eastern Time start on SEC Network at Kroger Field. 

The Vols then have three of four games at home in November, hosting Oklahoma (November 1), New Mexico State (November 15) and Vanderbilt (November 29), along with a trip to Florida (November 22).

ESPN: Tennessee currently has 18% chance to make College Football Playoff

ESPN’s Playoff Predictor currently gives Tennessee an 18% chance to make the 12-team College Football Playoff, the 18th-best percentage after Week 8. 

Tennessee is currently ranked No. 13 in ESPN’s Football Power Index. The FPI predicts the Vols to go 9-3 — 8.6-3.5 is the exact win-loss projection — with a 15.2% chance to win out.

At the top of the list for the Playoff Predictor are Ohio State (96%), Indiana (94%), Alabama (90%), Texas A&M (84%), Georgia (82%) and Oregon (76%), ahead of BYU (52%), Ole Miss (49%), South Florida (46%), Miami (44%) Oklahoma (43%) and Texas Tech (42%).

Also ahead of the Vols are Georgia Tech (41%), Texas (39%), Vanderbilt (34%), Missouri (32%) and Notre Dame (30%).

Football Power Index: Vols have 65% chance to beat Oklahoma

The ESPN Playoff Predictor uses the three toughest games left on schedule, based on percentages from ESPN’s Football Power Index, to determine a team’s playoff chances at the end of the season. 

For Tennessee, those three games are Oklahoma at home, Florida on the road and Vanderbilt at home. The FPI gives the Vols a 65% chance to beat Oklahoma, a 61% chance to win at Florida and a 60% chance to beat Vanderbilt. 

Should the Vols win out, and not play in the SEC Championship Game, the Playoff Predictor gives Tennessee a 90% chance to make the playoffs, a 5% chance to get a first-round bye, a 58% chance to host in the first round and a 27% chance to go on the road in the first round. 

A loss at Florida drops the playoff chance to 11% while a loss to Oklahoma or Vanderbilt drops it to 8%.